Rainbow Warriors' defense can't stop Thomas from career game

HONOLULU - As Anthony Thomas rushed past the line of scrimmage with his first carry on Saturday, a rainbow appeared.

And it tackled him.

It was a Rainbow Warrior, to be exact - a linebacker that stopped Thomas after a gain of five yards. But it was one of the few times all afternoon that Thomas was held in check.

In one of his most dominant performances to date, Thomas was virtually unstoppable against Hawai'i. He carried the ball 13 times for a career-high 183 yards, and also scored a career-high four touchdowns in the blowout win, flipping the switch on Michigan's on-again, off-again rushing attack.

MARGARET MYERS/Daily Anthony Thomas helped himself to a four-touchdown evening against Hawai'i, racking up 183 yards.

"I was impressed with Anthony's running," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said after the game. "He ran hard, and I think that is always a positive. When you have a guy that runs like he did, it's always a good thing for your football team."

After his initial carry, Thomas didn't take long to get on track. On his fourth touch, he burst through the right side of the line and went 38 yards for the Wolverines' first touchdown of the game.

His second touchdown was a short one - just a four-yard jaunt that made the score 21-3 - but his next two were beauties.

Touchdown No. 3 came less than four minutes later, with 10:02 remaining in the first half. After Clarence Williams did the grunt work, carrying three straight times for 15 yards to get Michigan into position, Thomas finished the drive off. He went left this time, sprinting 16 yards for his third touchdown of the half.

It was his final carry of the half, and at the time, it looked as though it would be his final carry of the afternoon. With 104 yards on just 11 carries - and with his team up 35-3 - Thomas had already put in a full day's work.

"They told me I was finished at halftime," Thomas said. "So I was relaxing, drinking water and chewing gum. Then somebody told me to get loose again, and I was like, 'Get loose again?'"

In the interim, Michigan's defense had surrendered a few points since the intermission. And while 41-17 was hardly what you would term "striking distance," Carr was unamused. He didn't want the game getting any closer.

So Thomas went back in. But not for long.

All it took was one play. Thomas took the ball from Brady and promptly raced 80 yards for a touchdown, making the score 48-17 and effectively squashing whatever minuscule hopes the Rainbow Warriors may have held of making a comeback.

"They told me all they wanted was one play," Thomas said. "So that's what I tried to give them."

But there was something else motivating Thomas. After his initial chargethrough the line, he had to outsprint Hawai'i's defensive backs to the end zone. And it was a pretty close race.

"I knew if I would have gotten caught from the backside, I'd never hear the end of it," he said. "The guys would never let me forget it."

And while the controlled variable was Michigan's offense, the obvious independent variable in Thomas' career afternoon was the opposing defense - Hawai'i's not 0-12 for a reason, after all. But the sophomore running back said the tropical climate was an added bonus.

"I feel like I'm at home, back in Louisiana," he said. "It's warm everyday here. It helps you get loose. I ran pretty freely."

11-30-98